


The Old Snows Melt

by TheWaffleBat



Series: So Stand Stricken [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Amnesia, Canonical Character Death, Gen, No grief for Revali, Revali's an arsehole, Teba's a good a friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 02:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17398220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWaffleBat/pseuds/TheWaffleBat
Summary: Mostly, Link scowled, he felt bad about not feeling all that terrible about Revali’s loss. Revali was an incredible archer and swordsman, because of course he was the best, he demanded nothing less than perfection from himself, and the world was a little poorer for the loss of that skill. But that demand for perfection made him, Link knew now, hate himself because he could never be perfect, would always have one thing he wasn’t good at, one thing he would never be able to do and it made him prickly and irritable. He was a fantastic fighter but he was also arrogant, and rude, and even though Link was certain everything he’d ever done was to make people realise he was worth a damn, he never did anything to change their opinions of him.Link doesn't know how to feel about Revali after seeing him on Vah Medoh. Teba understands.





	The Old Snows Melt

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Edna St. Vincent Millay's _Time Does Not Bring Relief_

Link didn’t know how to grieve for Revali, so he sat with Teba on Revali’s deck, watching him preen his injured wing, pulling out loose feathers and smoothing down ones that were out of place.

Or, Link thought, he didn’t know if he should. He was a little sad to know that Revali had died, but Link had not been friendly with him - _no one_ had been friendly with Revali. Revali had never wanted to be a champion, or be bound to Medoh; he only put himself forwards because he wasn’t really wanted by anyone in Rito village and he wanted to prove them all wrong not to want him by being the best at everything, even if it was the best at piloting a Sheikah, mechanical bird no one really knew how to use.

Mostly, Link scowled, he felt bad about not feeling all that terrible about Revali’s loss. Revali was an incredible archer and swordsman, because of course he was the best, he demanded nothing less than perfection from himself, and the world was a little poorer for the loss of that skill. But that demand for perfection made him, Link knew now, hate himself because he could never _be_ perfect, would always have one thing he wasn’t good at, one thing he would never be able to do and it made him prickly and irritable. He was a fantastic fighter but he was also arrogant, and rude, and even though Link was certain everything he’d ever done was to make people realise he was worth a damn, he never did anything to change their opinions of him.

Revali was rude, and arrogant, and he was clever, undeniably clever, but he wasn’t self-aware enough to know that _that_ was why people didn’t like him. Link had ignored him because he knew Revali would do as he’d promised he would, and help fight against Ganon, but they had nothing else between them. Link was something of an outsider in their group, especially with Zelda needing the most care to help her powers finally manifest, but Revali was well beyond that; did nothing to change it and Link couldn’t help but to have been a little satisfied by that.

Because Revali didn’t _like_ Link, was obviously jealous of the Master Sword on his hip and because he was jealous he picked on Link in ways that were especially nasty, because Link was an easy target. No one cared about Link - was just Zelda’s bodyguard, there to protect her from Ganon just long enough for her to use her powers to seal Ganon away for another ten thousand years or so and not much else - and he didn’t fight back, didn’t care to because Revali was just another person who tried to use Link’s silence against him.

But Revali was still someone who gave their life trying to keep Hyrule safe.

“You seem deep in thought,” Said Teba through a mouthful of feathers, combing a particularly stubborn primary back in its place. It was just an idle observation, an opening if Link wanted to talk but respecting, too, if he didn’t. Link found himself grateful enough for it that he shrugged, sharpening his sword. Wanted Teba to talk again, something soothing about his voice, and Teba, maybe realising it or maybe just noticing that Link wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation, asked, “What was on Vah Medoh?”

Teba, Link noticed, was exactly like Revali in skill and exactly _unlike_ him in every other respect. His white feathers weren’t cold, especially not with the sun setting over the distant mountains, but were warm, made him striking but not unapproachable, unlike Revali’s dark ones. His eyes weren’t Revali’s envy-green but were a keen, focused yellow, and they didn’t gleam with smug arrogance. He was quiet, serious, and he didn’t hate Link for being just as good as him - seemed quite happy to have someone to talk to, or to sit quietly with.

Link said, “I saw someone. A spirit of someone who-... Someone who hated me, but still did his best to help Hyrule.”

Teba blinked, but like everything else he took it in stride, continued preening carefully, moving to his other wing now that he’d done what he could with his injured one. “And this surprised you,” He said; another observation. Teba let a few moments pass, silent like he was waiting for Link or speak, or like he wanted to work out what he wanted to say. He looked thoughtfully at Link. “And this has upset you?”

“No,” Link answered, making his whetstone sing across his blade, trying to fall into the rhythm of it. “I think I should be, but I don’t… we didn’t like each other.”

It sounded almost heartless when he said it out loud. Someone was _dead_ and he didn’t really care, because Revali hadn’t given him any incentive to. Someone had lost their life and Link didn’t feel satisfied about it, yes - he’d have liked to have seen Revali taken down a peg or two but he had never wanted him thrown off the wall, either - but he didn’t feel the same, heavy sadness as he had for the other Champions, or even for Zelda now that some of his memories of her had been returned to him and he had enough to understand just how much she’d come to care about him.

Revali was just as distant from him in death as he was in life, a faint touch at his fingertips like wind through feathers, and that was it., and Link didn’t really have a problem with that, and he felt _awful_ about it because he thought he should at least feel _something_. But there was nothing.

Teba nodded, like he understood. Even in the warm glow of the sun he looked a little sad, a little bit lost. “You don’t have to care about everyone,” He said finally, adjusting some feathers on his chest even though they didn’t really need adjusting. “Some people don’t deserve it. You’re a good person, but that doesn’t mean you have to grieve for someone who didn’t like you just because they’re dead and you’re not. Save your tears for the people who earned it.”

Link supposed that made sense, though he wondered what had happened to Teba to make him come to that conclusion. Link wouldn’t ask, though - Teba let him keep his secrets, thoughtful and demure and careful to speak in ways that didn’t force Link to share a name when he didn’t want to, so the least Link could do was let Teba keep his. It didn’t matter how he came to it, just that he was willing to share.

Mutual ambivalence, Link suspected, was always going to be the best thing for each other.

“Thank you,” Link said, putting his sword away to admire the mountain silhouetted against the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> Teba's philosophy is something I hold myself, because maybe it's callous of me but I see my love and my care and my grief as a very finite resource, so I save it for the people close to me. I don't cry over random people because I don't know them, I don't have any attachment to them, so I don't care. I'll feel bad for their families, I'll feel bad someone's died, but I'm not going to take a day off from uni because of it.
> 
> The 'love everyone' policy, for me at least, devalues love itself. If you love everyone, then you love no one because that love isn't worth shit anymore. It's why I really like reserved characters, like Geralt from the Witcher and Corvo from Dishonoured, because yeah, they don't love many people, they don't have many close friends, but those people they do care about they'd go to the ends of the earth for - literally in Geralt's case.


End file.
